Saturday, November 05, 2011

Leuca

It's strange how sometimes when one part of your life starts to crumble you finally find the time and motivation to fix other things that aren't right. Or maybe it just requires the luxury of a long weekend...

Whatever the cause, I am so, so, SO happy to have found some design mojo again and finally conquered my latest print. Sometimes it can be quite a battle, turning an idea from my mind into a reality. I knew I wanted to do another botanical print, I knew I wanted it to be quite detailed, and I knew I wanted the subject matter to be something from the Proteaceae family.

So I did lots of research, bought lots of books, brought home lots of specimens...

Referencing...

I drew a lot, experimented with shading and form, got frustrated, dilly dallied, changed tack a few times....

Experimenting...

And finally decided upon the gorgeous Leucadendron as my subject matter...

Drawing...

So I drew some more, scanned, edited, arranged and rearranged, layered, measured...

And "Leuca" finally came to life.

"Leuca" - textile design for meterage

"Leuca" - textile design for meterage

Sure, that process was probably more drawn out than it needed to be. Sure, once upon a time I had the luxury of time and head space to design new things every week. Sure, I could have busted out 10 new prints over the last year if I'd really wanted to. But that process no longer fits with my ethos. These days I want to design prints that I'm exceptionally proud of, that are versatile and have inherent longevity. It's tricky to do all those things within the constraints of hand printed meterage. But extra rewarding in the end when it comes together :)

OH. MY. GOD. It's stunning! So, so, so, so, so beautiful! Really well done, Lara! Your eye for colour and design is so good. I'm particularly glad that you're just up the road from me. Well, in the same city :)

I like all your sketches, especially the varied hatching in the first one! And I adore the little label you've written on the second sketch too - looks like it should be framed!

But of course the final print is gorgeous! I appreciate the process that goes into the design, Lara. It's so interesting! And there's nothing wrong with taking a fair bit longer to produce something that you're proud of, rather than just smashing out 'ok' stuff for the numbers. I perfectly understand that one! (Otherwise I'd be getting a whole lot more artwork done each year than I do!)

oh, it's so divine! love your colours too.you know it's funny, i just finished a painting on friday featuring this plant! {the lime version of it}. the very same thing happened with your kangaroo paw design, same timing!glad to hear you are back on track with your creative side :)

Love this design! Your post reminded me that I had taken some Protea photos, but set them aside as too odd to do anything with. I dug them out and posted to FB along with a link to your blog. :-)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crowell-Photography/128808763883627?ref=tn_tinyman